Got a lead on this insurance company through MMM blog and gave them a call.
I saving $910 on my first year insurance on 3 cars and a single family house. I say first year because I think its pretty normal for them to jack my home-owners policy after the first year. So, as long as its a reasonable increase a year from now, I should still have a nice annual savings.
The detail: I was with StateFarm for decades and never filed a claim. A tornado took about 20% of the shingles off my house. Same tornado stream that hit the University of Alabama 4 years ago. EF4 800 meters wide and 35 miles long. Statefarm offered to pay for half a roof replacement. Half a roof. I asked the agent if he would settle for half a new roof. He declined to answer. I took their settlement but ended up having to fund about 60% of the full roof replacement out of my pocket. The thing that I didn't like from Statefarm was that they made me feel like a criminal for filing a claim. They didn't rush to my house after the tornado to see if I was ok or if I needed food or water. They rushed out to create their photographs for damage proof. I didn't feel like that premium insurance company treated me like a premium customer. So, I dropped them and moved to an insurance company that is basically an 800 number. The days of having a local agent have ended.
Moved to Travelers Insurance. Got better rates right away. Then, they started jacking them up yr to yr. They did this by jacking up the published value of my home. I'm in TN. Houses are cheap here. They started using national averages and rate tables for the value of my home instead of what my home would actually cost to rebuild. As a result, the rates doubled over a 4 year period with no claims...
In comes MMM. I read his blog and he uses Safeco. Or at least he did when he wrote his blog. I called them and made the switch. Same coverage, same deductibles, same replacement cost values. Like for like.
$910 first year savings. Booked!
I'll monitor them for a while and if they start jacking my rates, I'll shop again... I've filed one claim in 30 years of being an auto and home insurance client. I would think I should be paying the ultimate in low rates. So, I'm using my good history to price shop for the best rates.